Much like our own former GOP Rep. Vito Fossella, disgraced former Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been poking his head out of the gopher hole a bit lately. Spitzer has appeared on TV and in the press, talking about the hooker scandal that drove him from office.

With the poll numbers of his successor, Gov. David Paterson, descending to new lows by the hour, many are wondering if Spitzer is gearing up for a run at his old seat in the statehouse.

O'Brien said that voters will not be so quick to forget that Spitzer, the squeaky-clean white knight of Albany, was an escort-service client even though he'd prosecuted hooker rings while serving as attorney general.

"That kind of hypocrisy doesn't go down well with a lot of folks," he said.

O'Brien said that such damage might dissipate after a time for a U.S. congressman, state senator or other local official, but not for the governor of the Empire State.

"That's going to echo for a while," he said. "And who's going to feel sorry for this guy? He's got a billionaire father who's been giving him money for years."

O'Brien thinks it more likely that Spitzer will eventually form a public-policy think tank of some type, or may spend his life's second act sitting on the board of this foundation or that. He has already been doing a little op-edding in the media.

But Paterson's travails by no means clear the way for another statehouse run for Attorney General Andy Cuomo, O'Brien says.

"The fascinating thing about Paterson is that you obviously see the skids being greased for him so Cuomo can run," he said.

However, O'Brien points out, there are still those in the black community who harbor hard feelings against Cuomo after his gubernatorial primary battle against Carl McCall in 2002.

"Paterson would have to remove himself from the scene, say he's not running," said O'Brien. "Unless there's a clear outreach from the black leaders around the state, Cuomo will have a hard time putting a primary together."

Said O'Brien, "Paterson is the first African-American governor in state history. Even if he's not up to snuff, black leaders aren't going to be so quick to abandon him. There will still be some pride there."